It is considered as terminating on the east between Cape Maysi in Cuba, and Inagua island in the Bahamas.

However, it can also be considered to include the deep sea which separates the minor banks north of Haiti from this island, so that it extends to the Mona Passage, or the strait between the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico.

The narrowest portion of the Old Bahama Channel is between 22° and 23° North latitude, where its width rarely exceeds 12 miles (19 km).

[1][obsolete source] In the 1500s, Alonso Valiente was one of the discoverers of the Old Bahama Channel.

[2] The Spanish colonial trade routes in the Spanish West Indies originally favored the Old Bahama Channel, then shifted to the Straits of Florida—New Bahama Channel, as it was a safer alternative.